It Didn't End At Death
by Ayumu Yamada
Summary: The dead of Dangan Ronpa realize that life doesn't end at what they thought was the end; Spoilers throughout the entire game; slightly drabble-ish
1. Chapter 1

Sayaka was in deep trouble. And it was all her own fault. She was going to die, and she was never going to be reunited with her idol friends.

"Don't kill me don't kill me don't kill me DON'T KILL ME!" she screamed. She couldn't die; no way.

Her back hit the wall of Naegi's bathroom.

Leon stood in front of her, knife in hand. It felt like everything was a blur, but one thing she felt extremely clearly was the knife stabbing her.

Suddenly, her head hurt a lot, and a lot of new memories swept upon her brain.

They all knew each other!

They were classmates for two years!

"Naegi...I'm so sorry..." she mouthed to herself.

She felt blood on her fingers. Slowly but surely, she wrote his name behind herself in her own blood. That way, Naegi would live...right?

"I'm sorry...everyone..."

It hurt for awhile. A throbbing, sharp pain in her abdomen.

But then there was nothing.

Just an infinite expanse of nothingness.

The pain was gone, too.

* * *

She started feeling her senses again. How much time had passed? Was she dead or not? So many questions rushed through her mind. Her eyes slowly opened, but she closed them quickly because there was a bright light. She blinked, getting used to the light. Her sight cleared, and she realized she was in... a classroom?

A very familiar classroom.

The very classroom she has spent two years of high school in.

She sat up and noticed she was sitting at a desk. But she was alone.

"Where...am I? Am I still alive?" But that didn't make sense. If she was alive, then she would have a knife in her, blood everywhere, and she'd be in Naegi's bathroom.

Was this...heaven? Certainly not what she'd ever imagined, if so.

There was a note on the desk.

**Welcome to the place the dead go to. This area will carry the dead students of Hope's Peak Academy's 76th class. Feel free to explore the rest of the area. **

So... she was really dead.

She stayed sitting there for a lengthy amount of time; the truth sinking in.

She was dead. Not alive.

She hoped the students still alive wouldn't kill anymore people than just her.

"I hope Naegi is okay..."

She decided to explore the area, feel about her new surroundings.

She stood up, and walked outside the classroom she'd been in.

Although the surroundings were "new", they still felt really familiar to her. It was exactly the same as Hope's Peak Academy.

"I can't believe that I tried to kill Kuwata-kun and frame Naegi..!" The guilt set in and her knees buckled beneath her. She didn't even realize that she'd started crying.

"The precious classmates...that I spent two whole years with..,"

Time passed in a blur. Somehow, she found herself at a room with her name on it.

A note was laying on the bed inside.

**This will be where you rest each night. **

That was all it said. There was a clock on the wall, and Sayaka realized that it was apparently 9:30 p.m.

She felt exhausted, mentally.

So she decided to leave the thinking for tomorrow and rest for the night.

It was somewhat eery, the way she was alone in the building, except for whoever wrote the notes.

She fell asleep quickly.

* * *

The next morning, Sayaka wondered where she was, before the memories of the day before hit her.

"Enoshima-san and Ikusaba-san..." How could two of their close friends just betray them like that?

She laid in bed for awhile, wondering about the others who still had to be in that despair-inducing situation.

She got out of bed around 2:00. She was _starving. _When she went outside, she heard noises coming from the cafeteria, and walked inside of it.

No one was there, but there was a meal sitting out on the table.

Another note lay beside it.

**I'll prepare your meals, so from now on please come to eat at 8:00 am, 12:45 pm, and 6:00 pm.**

She sat down in front of the meal, and started digging in. It wasn't delicious, but it wasn't bad either. Mostly just average. She finished it quickly and went back to the classroom.

It was still empty, just her.

BAM!

She jumped at the sudden noise and turned towards it-

Mukuro Ikusaba sat at a desk, confused and tired.


	2. Chapter 2

They were all gathered in the gymnasium, shocked from the revelation of executions and school trials. Mukuro stood to the side, waiting for her cue.

"I have taken the liberty to add everything I just said to the school rules. Please check them when you have time!" Monobear exclaimed happily.

_There's my cue._

"H-hey, wait just a minute!" she yelled angrily at Monobear.

"What you're saying, it's all so demented!" Going through the script in her head, Mukuro thought of her next line, as Monobear responded exactly as she knew he would.

"Huh..?" he innocently replied.

"What's up with this 'school trial' thing?! I don't wanna take part in anything like that...!" Now he would respond, "...why?" exactly the way Junko said she would.

"...Why?"

"Isn't it obvious...! Why do I have to try to figure out who the culprit is? Isn't that all messed up?" Mukuro had her face in an angry expression, exactly like Junko taught her.

"So what are you saying? You're not going to cooperate? If you don't, I will have to penalize you!" Monobear menacingly relpied.

"Huh? Penalize...?" Mukuro knew exactly what Monobear was talking about, of course, but she had to pretend to be shocked and fearful.

"Maybe I'll... lock you up in a dark scary cell..." Yea, Monobear would threaten her and put her in a cell as punishment for "harming the headmaster". All part of the plan that Junko created.

"Just shut the hell up! I don't care what you say, I'll never go on with something like this!"

"It's _your _body. Do as you please!" Monobear stated. It was coming up soon, Mukuro noted in her head.

"Isn't it you who always do as you please?! Telling us to kill each other! I don't want anything to do with it!" She acted angry again, though it was hard when she was actually getting a little bit antsy.

"Seeing such overwhelming determination... it's truly exciting! Nevertheless..,"

"I will not bend the rules for your sake. I'm a bear of high principles, you know."

That hadn't been part of the script, as far as Mukuro remembered, but she assumed Junko had thought of the line and added it in on a whim.

Looking back on it, Mukuro supposed she should've noticed Junko was planning something.

"If you try to sway me..." Monobear looked really angry now, at least for a mechanical bear.

"I'll get you first!" Then Monobear came charging at "Junko". Mukuro was silently glad that her sister had gotten back to the script. She wouldn't have known how to react if she kept veering off in a different direction.

As Monobear neared "Junko", she stepped on Monobear with her boot, in "surprise", "fear", and "anger".

"Gyuuu...!" Monobear said.

"There, are you satisfied now?" Mukuro asked, "angrily". She still hadn't gotten the hang of acting like Junko. There were just too different. So it was a good thing that the others had their memories erased, or they definitely would've noticed.

"I should ask you the same thing," Monobear replied neutrally.

"Huh?" Mukuro was actually a little nervous now, Monobear was on the brink of "punishing" her.

"Violence against the headmaster is forbidden. It's against the school rules..."

_Now it's time for the punishment, exactly like the script. _

"I have no choice but to..." Mukuro had absolutely no idea what was coming. She probably should've.

"..invoke my summoning magic! Save me! Gungnir the Spear!"

_...Huh?_

In a split second, several long, sharp spears appeared and were sent flying into Mukuro as fast as they appeared.

"..."

It hurt. For Mukuro, who had never ever gotten a flesh wound before, pain was an absolute rarity. It hurt a lot. There was a lot of blood. Pouring out of her mouth, out of holes all over her body...

Mukuro was used to seeing blood. But it had always been on others, never her...

"What...?"

"Isn't... that... strange...?"

"Why... was... I...?"

_Why did she... stab me...?_

_No... way..._

_This... wasn't... in... the... script...?!_

Mukuro's eyes were wide open in shock. Despair overcame her as she realized...

Junko killed her. Her beloved sister, Junko, had killed her.

Shock numbed the pain, but only slightly. The others' cries of surprise, fear, and shock were in the background, but she couldn't hear them that clearly. With a thud, Mukuro's body hit the ground, laying on her back. Oh god, that made the spears stab through her more. It hurt so much.

Thankfully, the pain didn't last too long.

* * *

She couldn't feel anything. Just nothing. Like being unconscious, but forever.

Except it wasn't forever. She wasn't sure how much time had passed, but light passed over her eyelids. Conscious thought didn't reach her for a few seconds.

But when it did, her eyes snapped wide open. But she closed them just as quickly. She blinked, dazed from the shock of dying and confused about her whereabouts. As her eyes readjusted to the newfound light, she figured out she was sitting at a desk, inside a familiar classroom.

And staring at her with eyes wide open and hand covering her mouth, was Sayaka Maizono, the first murder victim.


	3. Chapter 3

Mukuro Ikusaba wondered where she was. Heaven? Hell? She thought about her sister, Junko.

_I'm sorry, sis..._

_Did I make a mistake?_

_Is that why you killed me? _

_Was it a punishment?_

_Was it my own fault?_

_Junko killed me... Me. Me. Me. _

She didn't notice Sayaka standing there, just the sinking feeling of despair overcoming her.

And she figured out why Junko killed her.

_Now I know..._

_Of course, it was for despair. _

_That's the reason for everything Junko does._

_She loved me, and she killed me._

_...So this is despair._

_I'm sorry, Junko. Until now, I never understood what it really was. _

_I love you, sis. I forgive you. _

* * *

"I-ikusaba-san..?" Sayaka whispered.

The fact that Ikusaba-san was here meant she was dead. But who killed her?

Sayaka had never been as close with Ikusaba as say, Naegi or Celes. Not to say Sayaka hated her or anything like that.

But shouldn't she hate her now? For helping cause the despair-inducing situation her close friends were in? She felt that she should've been feeling nothing but hatred for Ikusaba, but she didn't.

Just hurt, and confusion. But why was she confused?

Ikusaba helped Junko and SHSL Despair create the Worst, Most Despair-Inducing Incident in the History of Mankind. She was evil.

But that didn't match up with the Ikusaba she'd known for two years.

Ikusaba wasn't good at social interactions and loved her sister, Junko, a whole lot.

She'd never seemed like the type of person to do something like... that. But Junko hadn't, either.

Sayaka didn't know what to say, or how to act.

* * *

Mukuro looked up at the sound of a voice and stared. It was Sayaka Maizono.

Seeing Sayaka further clarified that she was dead.

"Where is this?" she asked in a monotone voice. She also didn't know how to act around her old schoolmate.

Surely, Maizono hated her. In a way, Maizono's death was her fault for helping set up the mutual killing situation.

Should she apologize? Would Maizono even want an apology? And even if Mukuro apologized, would Maizono even accept it?

"It's not heaven or hell... Just where dead people go," Sayaka responded in an equally monotone voice.

Sayaka couldn't bring herself to hate Ikusaba, but felt she couldn't just forgive and act like they were best friends.

It felt despair-inducingly awkward.

* * *

"...Oh. Okay." Mukuro decided the best way to end the silence was to start off with an apology.

"I'm sorry," she apologized.

Sayaka stared at her with her eyebrows raised, and her mouth an open "O".

"You... don't really expect me to forgive and forget with an apology like that, do you?"

Mukuro looked at her feet, a heat rising to her cheeks.

"No, not really..." she muttered.

"But I really am sorry," she stated again, looking back up.

"If there's anything at all I can do to get you to forgive me, I'll do it. I'll do anything."

Sayaka felt _really _awkward. How would you feel if your long-time friend helped cause the apocalypse, tried to get your other friends to kill each other, and then met you again in the afterlife?

"I... don't think there''s anything you can really do to help me forgive you. I don't hate you, but... I'm not sure I can go all the way and forgive you, scott free. But the fact that I don't hate you is a start, right?" she said with an awkward, fake laugh.

A pause.

"Do you... regret all that you've done, at least...?" she asked hopefully.

Mukuro had to think about her answer.

"I... do. But... I would do it all again if Junko asked me to."

"What...?! You'd do it again? Cause the apocalypse? Encourage your friends to kill each other?! Why?! Why on earth does Junko matter so much to you that you'd do so many horrible things... again?!"

Mukuro expected a a reaction like that, and repeated her statement.

"I regret my actions, but I would do it all again if Junko requested it of me. I am the only one who understands her. No matter what, I love my sister, even if she killed me."

Sayaka was speechless.

"Wait. Your sister was the one who... killed you? Then shouldn't you hate her? Despise her? Wish her dead?"

Mukuro understood that that was how someone would usually act in her situation, but she knew she could never hate Junko.

"No... I don't. I know my sister loved me. That's why she killed me. To cause despair and make me despair. That's how I know she loved me, because that's how Junko is."

Sayaka shook her head repeatedly. "I don't think I'll ever understand Junko and her despair fetish."

Mukuro nodded. "That's okay. As long as I understand her... Junko won't ever be alone. Even though I'm dead, I'll watch over her."

"I don't think I understand you too well, either."

"That's okay, too."

Sayaka chuckled. "I think... someday I'll be able to forgive you. Not now, and not for a while, but someday. And I think I can get along with you until then."

Mukuro smiled a little bit in relief.

"I'm not sure that everyone else will be as cool with what you've done as I am, though, so you better practice your apology," Sayaka warned Mukuro.

Mukuro closed her eyes and nodded.

"You're right," she replied. She opened her eyes. "...Would you be willing to...um...help me?"

Sayaka nodded with a real smile.

A question popped into Mukuro's head.

"...Why are... willing to forgive me...?"

Sayaka smiled.

"Because it's much easier on the heart to forgive than to hold a grudge," she said firmly.

* * *

After that, Sayaka showed Mukuro around the area, explaining that it was a replica of Hope's Peak, and how some sort of being would prepare their meals.

"...Don't you... find that suspicious...?" Mukuro frowned.

"Suspicious? You mean the something that prepares our meals? I'm sure it's just like an angel or something, don't worry about it. I think your room should be where it was during our school years, " Sayaka mentioned, changing the subject.

"...mhm..." They walked about, talking, until it was dinner.

"Wow! Time sure does go by fast, huh? Though we don't really have to worry about time since we're... Sorry. That was insensitive," Sayaka frowned.

Mukuro accepted her apology and they walked to the cafeteria, where... three plates were set?

"Maybe the being is going to have dinner with us?" Sayaka suggested. Mukuro shrugged.

They sat down and ate, silently. No one came to eat the third plate.

BOOM! Sayaka jumped in her seat, and Mukuro silently stood.

"Let's go check it out,"Sayaka nervously said as she too stood up.

They walked towards where the noise had been, the classroom, though they didn't hear anything else coming from it.

_There was a boom when Mukuro came... There's no way someone else was already murdered, right? I hope..._

So they walked towards the suspicious noise, only one of them suspecting what it really was...


End file.
